Saving The Night
by NewLunarRepublic
Summary: When Princess Luna is kidnapped by a mysterious group of ponies who will save her? Will our hero be able to save her in time? Or will Equestria itself collapse into ashes without the Princess? My first story. Please leave a review! Constructive criticism is needed!
1. Prologue

"_He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind."_

_-Leonardo da Vinci_

**Prologue:**

"_All I've ever wanted to do was to protect her."_

The thought flashed through my mind as I watched the mysterious, hooded ponies bound my Luna. They tied a bag around her head, and slipped a ring around her horn so she could not cast any spells.

"No!" I rasped weakly as the Princess's captors flew through the window, and vanished into the swirling, evil mists outside on the castle grounds.

"_No…"_

The thought flowed once more through my mind, and then everything went dark.

**4 days earlier:**

Solstice, the newly appointed Prince of Ponyville and the lands around it, along with the Everfree Forest, looked out of the window of his castle.

The setting sun filtered through the stained glass window, and sent swirling novas of rainbow colors onto his face.

His younger brother, Prince Raze had already left to prepare for their trip to Canterlot. _What's the worst that could happen for a few days?_ Solstice thought quietly to himself…


	2. Calm Before the Storm

**Calm Before The Storm:**

"Hey Solstice, guess what's in a few days!?"

I trotted excitedly up to my older brother. "The Grand Galloping Gala." He muttered detachedly as he examined a particularly tricky spell from a spell book. "Yeah, can we go!? My body tensed up in eagerness and my black wings flared up at the prospect. "Huh? Yeah. Sure."

I studied the tall, strong alicorn.

His white coat shimmered with each breath he took, like a rolling sea of white grass. His eyes were narrowed slightly in concentration as he read over the spell.

He also wasn't paying attention to me.

"Hey Sol, bro, are you even listening to me?"

I poked his flank with one of my jet black hooves.

His head shot up and he looked around suddenly. "Wait, what did you say?" He looked at me with amber, nearly liquid golden eyes flecked with green. "Sorry, I kind of spaced out there for a bit!" He smiled at me sheepishly looking away as he did.

"The. Grand. Galloping. Gala."

I spit out, irritated, putting space in between each word to let my disapproval show through.

"Can we go?"

He shook his head in thought a few times, messing up his flame-colored mane as he did. His mane was scarlet red and the tips of it were bright yellow, and it looked like actual fires grew out of where his mane and tail should be.

"Well…"

He looked deep in thought as he calmly walked over to the castle window that overlooked Ponyville, his muscles rippled as he walked.

This early in the morning, opaque mist rose from the wet grass being warmed by the bright morning sun, and gave a mysterious air to the normally cheerful little town.

I sensed he was about to deny my request.

I quickly spoke up before he could make a decision.

"We haven't been to it the past three years! Not since Discord was imprisoned again." I reminded him gently.

I decided to sweeten the deal.

"And I know you would LOVE to see Princess Celestia again."

I hinted slyly with a tiny smirk; Solstice suddenly pivoted and stared at me steadily. The turn exposed his flank to me and I could now see his cutie mark.

It was a semicircle sun, as if it was rising, and it was bathed in orange flame.

"Are you sure you're just not trying to convince me so you can see Luna again?" He inquired teasingly.

"No!" I objected fervently.

But the heat rising quickly to my now scarlet cheeks betrayed the fact.

_"Wait…Did I have a crush on Luna?"_

He chuckled gently and smiled at me. "But who will rule the kingdom while we are away Raze?" He asked this to no pony in particular. He turned back to the window, mirth swiftly faded away to worry as he stared out again over the land he was sworn to protect.

I snorted impatiently.

"We don't need to protect anything! Discord is imprisoned and Nightmare Moon was destroyed by the Elements! Besides, what is a few days without us Sol!?" I asked testily.

I turned and glared at him sullenly out of the corner of my eye.

"Additionally, Thunder Wing, the captain of the Guard, and our brothers Sky and Xeo can rule in our stead for a day or two. They don't even want to go!" I pointed out, a little bit more patiently this time.

"Don't be condescending with me!"

"I'm just stating facts Sol!"

He looked down pensively.

"Well we haven't gone in a while…"

I nodded stoically at him, in agreement.

"And it would be nice to see Celestia and Luna again…"

I nodded once again, a small smile slowly forming on my lips.

"I guess…if you really wanted to…we could go!"

He beamed at me with perfect, shiny white teeth, and I returned the smile.

Then I dashed across the room in an instant, and promptly tackled my brother to the hard marble floor.

"THANK YOU!" I yelled at him.

He laughed loudly.

"YOU'RE WELCOME!" He yelled back at me, matching my enthusiasm.

"Well then, it seems you have stuff to do." He commanded in a tone full of authority. I paused, alarmed for an instant by the thought of work. "Go pack up your chest." He ordered me gently, with a small smile.

"We will depart for Canterlot tomorrow before noon!" He yelled at my quickly departing black form.

I flashed a quick smile at him as I sprinted up the spiraling tower stairs to my room.

I burst through the oaken door of my room, my deep crimson eyes already scanning for my chest, my searching gaze passing over the many moons and stars painted all around my room in a vortex. I finally found it hiding in the corner of my room, covered by soft blankets and pillows.

It was just like any other typical chest except that my cutie mark lay emblazoned on the lid of the chest, a yellow crescent moon surrounded by inky blackness. I levitated the chest onto my bed so I could begin packing.

A nimbus of cobalt blue magic surrounded it as it floated towards me and down onto the bed.

I darted across the room and grabbed a deep blue tunic to go with my jet black coat; the tunic was similarly embellished with my cutie mark over the heart.

_"Just in case I need to look presentable for the Gala." _

_"So you can make a good impression on Luna." _

A small voice argued from the back of my mind; I brushed the errant thought away as I briefly considered what else to pack.

_"Now what?"_

Thinking about seeing Luna in only a few short days was not helping me think straight.

"Aha!" I exclaimed aloud in a flash of inspiration. I grabbed my coin pouch and tossed it in; I then walked over to my wardrobe. It was made of dark mahogany and shone with a polished light.

_"Only one last thing…"_

On an impulse, I threw open my closet doors and gazed at my sword and armor.

The sword blade was as black as midnight, except for where the edges were honed to a lethal edge, it was metallic silver. The handle of the sword was black obsidian and wrapped with dark, azure blue cloth for grip.

Inlaid in the pommel of the sword was a small, twinkling sapphire.

It was also a Magic Gem, used to store additional magic in case I needed it.

The sword's name was Fury, and I had trained with it since I was strong enough to hold it, when I was only just a colt. I grabbed Fury's dark grey sheath and laid it in the bottom of the chest, I then turned my attention back to the gilded armor hanging in my closet.

It was made of dragon scales.

The shiny, black, overlapping scales formed a nearly impenetrable armor, and the dark scales faintly reflected the quickly fading sunlight.

_"The quickly fading sunlight?"_

The fact took a second to register in my mind, and then my head whipped around to stare through the window.

"By Luna, sunset already!?" Horrified I could only stare, the sky was a fading red, and nothing remained of the day except for a line of molten gold on the horizon. "I have to pack faster! We leave early tomorrow and I need to get some sleep!"

And this alicorn particularly loved to sleep. Then again, who doesn't?

I looked back at my armor, in the middle of the chest piece, a yellow crescent moon shined luminously in the semi-dark room with an unusual, alien light; I frantically grabbed the cuirass along with my helmet and nearly threw them in the chest next to Fury.

I mentally went through the list of items I had packed.

_"My sword, my armor, a few tunics to wear, and some money…Sounds good to me!"_

Satisfied that I had everything I needed, I decided it was time to sleep.

"Whew!" I exhaled and flopped down exhausted on my bed; my cobalt-colored mane flopped down and fell in front of my eyes.

I looked wearily out the window.

Luna had apparently just finished raising the moon, and its pale, waning light washed across my floor, reflecting against the stone and illuminating the miniature nighttime sky swirling around my room.

I lazily admired the beautiful, shining galaxy surrounding me for an instant, then turned my head and looked once again at that pale orb in the nighttime sky.

And then my thoughts went once again to the alicorn that had raised it.

Princess Luna.

_"How I love that blue mane of hers, framing her gentle face and showing off those piercing green eyes. Not even mentioning her smile, that lights up her already beautiful face, and makes her dark eyes shine, just like her stars in the black night sky. Those eyes…just like the stars she so commands…"_

"Stop it!" I scolded myself out sternly out loud and violently pushed all traces of Luna out of my mind.

But then the thoughts came back regardless.

_"Was I falling for Luna?"_

I hadn't really given her all that much thought before.

But now that Solstice had brought her up, I couldn't seem to get her out of my mind.

"**Stop!**" Thinking of her won't help you sleep! You have to wake early to travel to Canterlot tomorrow! And she probably doesn't even think of you the same way!"

But the thought of that harsh possibility even existing put a cold pit of ice in my stomach, and tore open a jagged, painful hole in my chest.

Those thoughts would only lead to heartache.

So with a sense of finality, I rolled over to face away from the moon, willed away the treasonous thoughts flowing through my mind, and let the shadows of sleep envelop my mind.

**Downstairs, Solstice:**

Solstice closed the spell book with a long, heavy sigh.

_"I'll have to learn it tomorrow during the ride to the castle, but what if I forget the first part of the incantation? Jeez, that brother of mine can irritate me like no other, he actually convinced me to go to the Gala when I have so many things to do here!" _

He facehoofed.

"Ugh!" He groaned in pure exasperation. "I have to learn that spell, look after Ponyville and everything else, and maintain order here…"

His long list of duties eventually trailed off as he thought about what Raze had said to him.

_"What is a few days without us brother?"_

Maybe he had a point, Solstice admitted to himself reluctantly, it might be nice to go out and have some fun.

Plus, he couldn't deny the other perk Raze had mentioned…

_"And I know you would LOVE to see Princess Celestia again!"_

The thought echoed in his mind for a few seconds, bouncing and rebounding around and around, each bounce making the idea seem more and more appealing.

Solstice snickered dryly to himself.

Sometimes it seemed like that stallion could read the thoughts straight out of his mind like one of their spell books. And his younger brother was right; it might be good for him to relax for a couple of days.

_"Celestia knows I have been WAY to focused on ruling, besides, the citizens of Ponyville won't all kill themselves in three days!"_

But despite the reassuring thoughts Solstice kept pounding into his brain, his brain kept on telling himself right back that something was amiss…

He attributed the cryptic feelings to the past few nights where he had stayed up late at night studying that spell, and mentally waved them away.

"Ugh! For the love of Celestia I can't seem to conjure that spell!" He whispered it as if he was yelling.

This certain spell had eluded Solstice for the majority of the past month; he had spent nearly every day reading over it and over it.

Solstice was an alicorn, and by default, meant that he was already excellent at magic by nature.

And on top of that natural talent, he was also gifted.

Solstice was an advanced spellcaster, even among alicorns.

But this particular spell was an ancient, arcane spell, and was not easy to conjure, even for him.

Solstice happened to be a fire-caster, every alicorn had a specific element they could control, and they could only control that element, it was based on the type of magic they had.

Celestia, for example, was a fire-caster and on top of that, could use Sun Magic since she was the embodiment of the sun.

Luna was a storm-caster, and she was the embodiment of the Moon, and subsequently could use Lunar Magic.

This spell was an extremely powerful offensive fire spell, which would burn everything within a fifty yard radius to ashes at minimum power.

Solstice finally decided that he was just putting off the inevitable, and slowly clopped upstairs to pack and then sleep.

The inexplicable feeling that something was wrong, trailed slowly up the cold, stone staircase with him.


	3. Preparations

**Preparations:**

"And NO parties!" Solstice glared down at our two younger brothers Xeo and Sky, and his gold eyes promised death.

"Not even one small one?" Our youngest brother, Xeo spoke up meekly.

I decided to step in before Solstice slaughtered the two young alicorns. "No parties _at all_."

But while Xeo was convinced, Sky was defiant, and foolish to the end. "But we'll only invite a few ponies!"

It suddenly started to grow extremely hot in the room we were in.

I quickly extended my wing and gently rested my wingtip on Solstice's flank to calm him down.

I quickly stepped in again before Sol could reduce our brothers to small piles of ash.

"_Fire-casters and their tempers."_

I mentally rolled my eyes.

"No, absolutely _no _wild parties!"

"So, what you're saying is if we have a calm-"

"No! No parties whatsoever!" I flared my wings threateningly, my two idiotic and irresponsible younger brothers normally took that as a sign to shut up and listen.

Xeo gulped and Sky finally shut up.

"_No parties._" I glared once more at the two notorious troublemakers.

Solstice had calmed down by now and was his serious self once again. He spoke up.

"Now help us take our chests to the wind carriage and then you guys can go hang out in Ponyville."

"Sweet! Let's go party with Pinkie Pie!" Xeo was practically bouncing on his hooves.

Sky was skeptical. "I bet I could fly faster than that wind carriage." He scoffed.

I looked at him with a deadpan expression. "You think you could out-fly four pegasi of the Royal Guard?" I looked at him sarcastically.

"They're pulling a heavy carriage with two fat alicorns in it! I _know_ I could beat them."

"**Fat!**" Sky's mane started standing up on end from the sudden electricity in the air.

"Just because you're a wind-caster doesn't mean you can out-fly everypony!"

"Yes it does! I can control the wind around me and fly faster! Those dumb pegasi can't even wind-cast cuz they're not alicorns!" Sky defended himself.

I sighed.

Arguing with Sky who was the most stubborn pony I knew was pointless. The only pony more stubborn than Sky, was the Element of Honesty, Applejack.

And just barely so.

Solstice stepped in. "Alright you two, listen to me. Chests. In wind carriage. Now."

I sighed again, heavily. "Thanks Sol."


	4. The Arrival

**The Arrival:**

**Solstice:**

The air coach being carried through the skies of Equestria by pegasi of Canterlot's Royal Guard kept bouncing violently side to side periodically, thanks to a certain over-excited young alicorn inside of the coach.

"Can you keep still?" Solstice asked his excited younger brother contemptuously. "Could you perhaps take interest in something besides that spell?" He retorted right back and continued bouncing back and forth between each window of the carriage.

Solstice sighed and shook his head. After a moment's thought he fired back, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I am deeply impressed with your ability to sit still Raze!"

In response Raze only landed more forcefully each bounce across the coach.

Solstice sighed again. This had been going on the entire ride, each time Solstice mentioned something about Raze's antics, he had answered right back about Solstice and how his life revolved around that spell book.

The next jump Raze landed particularly hard and jarred the book straight out of my telekinetic grasp.

"Ugh! Raze I lost my place! In the name of Celestia can you at least stay at one window!?" I yelled so forcefully that he stopped bouncing entirely and hung in the air, defying physics, incredulity reigning on his features.

He fell to the carriage floor with one last crash.

He looked depressed and I briefly felt a bolt of sympathy go through me. "Oh I'm sorry Sol, I didn't mean to. But how am I supposed to see all of Equestria if I only stay at one window? I'll only see half of it!"

He protested and I thought about this. His response sounded oddly like a hyper-excited pink earth pony I knew back in Ponyville might say.

"Look out the window in the front of the wind coach! You'll be able to see everything, and you might be able to see the castle!" I suggested, a smile lit up his face and he beamed at me. "Good idea!"

He bounded over to the front window and stared intently out of it, serious for the time being.

"Maybe if you look hard enough you could see Luna walking around the castle somewhere!" I smiled slyly to myself. "Maybe I could!" I didn't think it was physically possible to focus on something as intently as Raze did, so that the turbulence from flying over Equestria didn't even cause a slight tremor to go through him.

I tried to suppress the laughter bubbling up inside my throat, but what Raze said next made me lose all self-control I had built up.

"Wait a second, your just trying to trick me!"

I lost it.

I burst out laughing and pointed a white hoof at him, and promptly fell on the floor of the coach and continued laughing.

**Raze:**

I watched Solstice shaking on the floor, and glared at him, waiting for his childish laughter to subside.

Eventually, his flanks quit heaving and he stood up and looked at me, the image of a prince once more.

"Thy jests are abundantly amusing." In my annoyance, my speech slipped back a few hundred years. But for the most part I only played this archaic vocabulary game because it confused Solstice and it bugged him to no end.

He never did get the hang of archaic, pre-Equestrian grammar.

"Thou shall cease this petty game once and for all!" Solstice announced, his voice ringing with authority. He matched my old time speech and played along.

"Thy arrogance is appalling for somepony of thine appearance!" I couldn't quite summon the same amount of authority in my voice as Solstice could, but that wasn't saying I didn't have any resonating throughout my words.

"Thou dare to insult thine image!?" He looked down my nose at me, attempting to look impervious.

He totally failed at pulling it off.

"Hahaha! You look like your choking!" I just barely managed to splutter the words out before I collapsed on the floor of the wind coach, a mirror image of what Solstice had done only a scant few minutes before.

**Solstice:**

"Excuse me your Highnesses, I don't mean to intrude."

The voice was polite and detached, yet held no interest whatsoever.

A typical guard's voice.

Raze's head whipped around, his swordsman's instinct taking over in that instant of surprise. I was more dignified and turned slowly towards the guard.

"No intrusion at all, what is it soldier?" The two alicorn brothers once again adopted the air of princes they normally carried.

"Report." Raze spoke up from my side, his dark red eyes serious.

"We have arrived, your Highnesses."


End file.
